Realism in film

Realism is often situated somewhere between the codes of classical cinema and the innovation of the avant-garde. Though these kinds of realist films do not entirely do away with plot and plausibility, they often bend the rules of continuity, motivation, and genre that characterize commercial filmmaking. In particular, realist films often include moments of narrative ambiguity that would never be allowed in the classical Hollywood narrative.

Realism brings to the screen individuals and situations often marginalized by mainstream cinema and society. Realism brings to the screen individuals and situations often marginalized by mainstream cinema and society.

Like the avant-garde, realism invents new configurations of the visible and new forms of representing the real.

Showing actors, faces, people who had rarely or never been shown on the screen, or who had only been seen through stereotypes, was part of cinematic realism's way of reconfiguring the world.

Realism situates its characters socially and economically, and economic hardship is often one of the motivating forces of the realist films' plot. Finally, while realist films are not documentaries, they claim a privileged relation to a reality outside of the movie theatre. Realism foregoes historical dramas and period pieces in order to focus on the actions of the contemporary world.